Joan Hoey is a Europe Consultant at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the sister organisation of The Economist newspaper, and a former Director for Europe in EIU's Country Analysis division. She is responsible for EIU's country forecasts, reports and coverage for Greece and Serbia, often winning Focus Economics awards for her forecasts. From 2014 to 2024 she was Editor of EIU's flagship annual Democracy Index, recognised by governments, international organisations, corporates and academia as a leading measure of the state of global democracy. She is an expert in European political economy, with a special interest in democracy, governance, political risk and geopolitics.

She joined the EIU in 1995 as a Senior Analyst for Eastern Europe, before becoming Regional Manager and then Director for Europe. In that role she led a team of analysts responsible for political and economic forecasting across 50 countries in Europe and Central Asia. Her regional expertise centres on the Balkans and Eastern Europe and on the region's post-communist transition.

She began her career as a journalist covering British and Irish affairs, and developed her interest and expertise in Eastern Europe from the mid-1980s onwards, reporting on the collapse of communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia before moving into country analysis and forecasting. Over three decades at the EIU she has shared her country and specialist expertise with clients across the public and private sectors.

A frequent conference speaker and chair, she has chaired more than 50 Economist-sponsored events with participants including world leaders and senior government officials, has spoken at many international forums, and is a regular media commentator on European affairs.